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T. F. ROCHE SAFETY LANTERN March 17, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 4,1962 u: I G 2 INVENTOR.

THOMAS F. ROCHE BY %0 NEY.

March 17, 1964 1-. F. ROCHE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR THOMAS F. ROCHEATTORNEY March 17, 1964 r. F. ROCHE .SAFETY LANTERN 5 Sheets-Sheet 3Filed Jan. 4, 1962 Ill II IG.4

INVENTORQ TH MAS F. ROCHE ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,125,300 SAFETY LANTERN v Thomas F. Roche, Rte.110, 21 W. Main St., Merrimac, Mass. Filed Jan. 4, 1962, Ser. No.164,277 2 Claims. (Cl. 24037.1)

This invention relates to a safety lantern. In particular it relates tosuch a lantern which is water and shock resistant and can provideautomatic battery-operated illumination upon failure of normal electricsupply.

Although automatic battery-operated emergency lanterns have beendescribed in the past, these have generally been subject to a number ofdisadvantages which have limited their usefulness. Thus, for example,such previously described emergency lanterns are put out of operation bythe heat of a fire or by the water of a flood or firemans hose or by theimpact of falling timbers and the like. To my knowledge, no emergencylantern has hitherto been proposed which is adequately resistant to theeffects of high temperature, water or impact so as to have continuingusefulness during an emergency such as a fire, flood, hurricane orstorm. In addition, many such prior emergency lanterns have proved to beinoperable after having been installed because of corrosion andmicrobial attack.

One object of this invention is to provide an emergency lantern which isresistant to the action of heat or water and has great shock resistance.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent fromthe following specification and claims and from the appended drawings inwhich:

FIGURE 1 is a front view of one embodiment of this invention.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation.

FIGURE 3 is an exploded view looking into the rear and upper sections.

FIGURE 4 is an interior view section.

FIGURE 5 is a side elevation of FIGURE 4 with screws removed.

The invention comprises in a general sense a plastic casing havingdetachable front and rear sections and a detachable top section. Thefront section holds the lamp which is also detachable. The rear sectioncontains the batteries and circuit contacts for the lamps. The topsection contains the relay switch for actuating the battery circuit andalso the lead to the normal supply of electric current. Each of thesesections, namely, the front, rear and top sections is preferably moldedfrom a relatively impact-resistant thermoset plastic such as phenolicresin or alkyd resin. Both the front and rear sections have transversechannels at each corner in which gasketed corrosion-resistant bolts arethreadable to engage the front and rear sections in fixed attachment.Channels are likewise provided in the top section forcorrosion-resistant bolts to attach to the top of the rear section.Resilient gaskets having registering holes are provided between thefront and rear sections and between the top and rear sections. The frontsection has a large central opening to accommodate the lamp, preferablyof the sealed-beam type, which is held in position by a detachable rearcollar and a gasket. The relay switch and associated circuitry areselected so that the switch forms part of the battery circuit and isheld normally open by current from the regular electric service. Theswitch closes when the electric service is interrupted, thus actuatingthe battery circuit to the lamp. The molded casing preferably haspockets to accommodate the batteries that are used so that there is nolooseness of fit.

of the rear of the front drawings, the lantern 10 comprises a fronthousing section 11 and a rear housing section 20. These two sections areconnected to one another by gasketed screws. 11a, 1 1b, 11c and 11dwhich go through registering channels 111, 112, 113 and 114 in the frontsection in conjunction with channels 26a, 26b, 26c and 26d in the rearsection. A resilient sealing gasket 12 is provided between the front andrear section. The lamp 16 is of the sealed-beam type and is held againstthe edge of front opening 19 in the front section by a detachablelamp-holding collar 15 and a gasket 14. The collar 15 is attached to thefront section by screws 15a, 15b, 15c and 15d. The lamp terminals aredesignated as numerals 16 and 17. The front section has a marginal ridge1-8.

The rear section 20 has an inner ridge 29, a vertical ridge 27, bottomridges 27a and 27b and a top ridge 21. It is closed in the rear but openin the front. Mounted in the rear frame is a ground spring contact 22and a positive spring contact 23 which are engageable with the lampterminals 16 and 17. The positive spring contact 23 is electricallyconnected by wire 36 to a lower switch element 33a in relay 33 which inturn is connected through seal 35 to wire 34 in the top section 30. Thenegative spring contact 22 is conductively connected to a metal plate 24which in turn provides contact with negative terminals 37a and 38a ofbatteries 37 and 38 which are shown in phantom form.

The positive sides 37b and 38b of the batteries are engageable withmetal plate 25 which is mounted across the top opening 28 in the rearsection. When current from wire 34 to the relay 3-3 is interrupted thespring on the relay switch element 33a causes the element to makecontact with plate 25 so that the battery circuit is operative to lightthe lamp.

The top section 30 comprises a cap member which is attachable through agasket 32 to the top ridge 21 of the rear section by means of edgescrews 31a, 12, c, d, e and f.

I claim:

1. A safety lantern comprising in detachable assembly, a plastic casinghaving detachable front, rear and top sections; said front section andrear section having registering corner channel means, co-operable boltsfor such channel means and gasket means between said sections; said topsection being attachable to the top of said rear section by bolt andsaid gasket means; said front section having a rear opening and having afront opening against which a lamp is held by means including a gasket;said rear section having a front opening, a top opening, and space forinsertion of a battery; said top section having a bottorn opening andcontaining a relay switch connectible to an external source of current;circuit means being provided in conjunction with said relay switch toprovide current from a battery to said lamp when there is no current insaid external lead.

2. A safety lantern comprising a plastic casing having detachable front,rear and top sections, bolts for attachment of said front and rearsections, a gasket between said front and rear sections, bolts forattachment of said top section to said rear section and a gasket betweensaid rear and top sections; said front section having a rear opening,transverse channels at each corner, a front opening and a sealed-beamlamp held against said opening by a gasket and a rear collar attached tosaid front section; said detachable rear section having front and topopenings, transverse channels at each corner which are registerable withthe channels of said front section, a pocket for housing a battery, twolamp contacts, a first battery contact plate electrically connected tothe first of said lamp contacts, and a second battery contact plateadjacent said Referring now to the 3 top opening; said top section beingmounted over said top opening of said rear section and containing arelay switch including a lower switch element and a lead co-nnectible toa source of external current; a lead being provided from said secondlamp contact to said lower switch 5 element so that lowering of saidswitch element to said second battery contact plate causes electricalconnection between said second lbattery contact plate and said secondlamp contact.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS AdamsMay 2, 1911 Grether Apr. 22, 1919 Embury Feb. 13, 1945 McDowell July 28,1953 FOREIGN PATENTS France Dec. 12, 1947

1. A SAFETY LANTERN COMPRISING IN DETACHABLE ASSEMBLY, A PLASTIC CASINGHAVING DETACHABLE FRONT, REAR AND TOP SECTIONS; SAID FRONT SECTION ANDREAR SECTION HAVING REGISTERING CORNER CHANNEL MEANS, CO-OPERABLE BOLTSFOR SUCH CHANNEL MEANS AND GASKET MEANS BETWEEN SAID SECTIONS; SAID TOPSECTION BEING ATTACHABLE TO THE TOP OF SAID REAR SECTION BY BOLT ANDSAID GASKET MEANS; SAID FRONT SECTION HAVING A REAR OPENING AND HAVING AFRONT OPENING AGAINST WHICH A LAMP IS HELD BY MEANS INCLUDING A GASKET;SAID REAR SECTION HAVING A FRONT OPENING, A TOP OPENING, AND SPACE FORINSERTION OF A BATTERY; SAID TOP SECTION HAVING A BOTTOM OPENING ANDCONTAINING A RELAY SWITCH CONNECTIBLE TO AN EXTERNAL SOURCE OF CURRENT;CIRCUIT MEANS BEING PROVIDED IN CONJUNCTION WITH SAID RELAY SWITCH TOPROVIDE CURRENT FROM A BATTERY TO SAID LAMP WHEN THERE IS NO CURRENT INSAID EXTERNAL LEAD.